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[PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Many have likened the city to a great beast, whose heartbeats can be sensed by those that stop to listen. The rise and falls of its moods become as well known as that of a loved one. Many become attuned to the rhythm of the teeming masses, and move to the beat of the city. They learn to play to its harmony and alter the music to their wishes. Such becomes a rat-a-tat, a literal street musician whose instrument is all around him.

Becoming a Rat-A-Tat
You have gained a connection to your city and its spirit to a depth few can comprehend. You feel it as a living creature that can be soothed by your touch.
Bards are of course the most likely to take levels in this class and reap the most benefits. Rogues with a flair for performance however are not unknown to follow the path.

Hit Die: d6

Requirements
To qualify to become a rat-a-tat, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Skills: Knowledge (local) 8 ranks, Perform (percussion) 6 ranksFeats:City SlickerSpecial: Must have been born and raised exclusively within a city of the Large type. Language: Scat

Scat
Scat is a language developed by other rat-a-tats to communicate between themselves and can be worked effortlessly into their performances. It is a bunch of nonsense syllables partially sung that changes and evolves by the moment with the flow and ebb of the city. Each city has its own beat so that though one who visits another city can pick up on the new style. Rat-a-tat cannot understand the others scat until one has picked up on it, so for example a rat-a-tat speaking Scat over a Sending spell to a rat-a-tat- in another city would not be understood. Scat is unique in being able to fool Tongues and similar spells that allows one to understand languages. Such spells allow the caster to understand and speak scat for the first round of use, but as the language changes the next moment the spell must be recast to continue communication. Scat costs 6 skill points to learn.

Class Features
All the following are Class Features of the Rat-A-Tat prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Rat-A-Tats gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day: When a new rat-a-tat level is gained, the character gains new spells per day, as shown in the table above, as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained unless noted, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a rat-a-tat, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Bardic Music: Each level you gain a use of Bardic Music. Rat-a-tat levels stack with bard levels for the purpose of determining the rat-a-tat's daily uses of his bardic music abilities (if any) and the value of the bonus granted by this music.
A rat-a-tat also gains the countersong bardic music ability, if he doesn't already have it. See the bard class feature, Page 29 of the Player's Handbook.

Skit-skat-skoodle-doo (Ex): With a slap on the heels, a beat on a tub and the tear of a sack a rat-a-tat draws his audience. At first level a rat-a-tat can throw his instruments away if he likes, for he has learned to use whatever is at hand. A pipe, some cloth, even a wall can be turned into a complex instrument of his music, oftentimes even using his own body in the mix. This acts as a percussion instrument, though depending on the materials at hand it is also feasible to work it into a string or wind instrument.

Feedback (Su): At second level the rat-a-tat not only listens to the city but it begins to listen back. He can use his bardic music to adjust and tweak the rythem to suit his needs. Unless noted otherwise the caster level is equal to the rat-a-tat's character level.

Key to the City: At 2nd level a rat-a-tat may use a use of his bardic music to cause an object to open as the Knock spell or lock as the Arcane Lock spell.

Word of Mouth: At 3rd level a rat-a-tat may use a use of his bardic music to send vibrations rushing out through the city, allowing him to deliver a message as the whispering wind spell. The rat-a-tat may use his bardic music through this ability as long as he is within the limits of a city, costing 2 uses of his music total, one for the music, one for the whispering wind affect.

Po' Boy's Shelter: At 4th a rat-a-tat may use up two uses of his bardic music to cause a building to bud a small sideroom or basement which acts as the tiny hut spell.

Remodeling: At 5th level a rat-a-tat may use up two uses of his bardic music to alter a building, a stretch of road, section of wall, and similar. This functions as stone shape except it applies to any man-made construction.

Talk of the Town: At 6th level a rat-a-tat may use up three uses of his bardic music to speak with a building, street, or other part of a city once per day. This ability is the equivalent of a stone tell spell (using your rat-a-tat level as the caster level), except that it works on any part of the city.

And The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon: At 7th level a rat-a-tat may use up three uses of his bardic music to infuse an object with the life of the city. This acts as the Animate Object spell, caster level equal to the rat-a-tat's character level.

The bard may use six additional uses of his daily bardic musics to make this affect permanent. The animated object created in this way however may not venture outside the city limits or it collapses into lifelessness once more. Returning the object to the city limits does not bring it back to life.

Jitterbug: At 8th level a rat-a-tat may use up three uses of his bardic music to put a spell on a 10-foot section of street or an area of a room. Anyone who passes over that spot must succeed on a save (DC = rat-a-tat's level + Cha modifier) or be affected as if by Otto's Irresistible Dance. The spell imbues the area for one round per rat-a-tat level.

Flow of the Masses (Ex): At 3rd level a rat-a-tat gains Crowd Tactics as a bonus feat, even if he doesn't meet the prerequisites. As well, a rat-a-tat need not make a concentration check to cast spells when subject to vigorous movement, such as being jostled in the midst of a crowd.

Hubbub (Ex): A 4th level rat-a-tat can use those around him as his verbal component to his spells, picking out snatches of conversation for the spell to work on. This allows him to cast spells with a verbal component even when he himself is unable to speak. This ability only works within 100 feet of a small crowd or larger that can be heard by the rat-a-tat.

Jive With the Thing (Ex): While in the confines of a city a rat-a-tat may use his bardic music and spells with the mind-affecting effect on creatures with the Construct-type.

Talk the Talk (Sp): At sixth level a rat-a-tat grasps the underlying similarities between a people's spoken words and can understand and speak any language as the Tongues spell.

Walk the Walk (Ex): At seventh level a rat-a-tat comes to fully understand the ebb and flow of the masses. While in the midst of a crowd he is considered to be under the affects of the Freedom of Movement spell. For example he may move through the crowd at anything from a walk to a run, even use his tumble skill, without a reduction in speed.

While on an artificial street the rat-a-tat gains a 10-foot bonus to his land speed.

The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exagerated (Su): Once per week you may start a rumor that spreads through an urban area like wildfire. For one day per rat-a-tat level anyone who makes a DC 15 knowledge (local) or gather information check within the town or city limits hears tell of this latest gossip in addition to the normal information they would recieve from the check. Those that hear the gossip must succeed on a will save (DC = rat-a-tat's level + Cha modifier) or become convinced the tale is true. Those who know the area or subject of the rumor gain a +4 bonus to the save, while those who were present during the supposed time the object of the rumor took place gain a +10 bonus to their save.

Citybeat (Ex): Once a day a rat-a-tat with 18 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use music or poetics to create an effect equivalent to the Earthquake spell while within city limits as the entire area starts to move to the rat-a-tat's beat. Structures are not automatically harmed unless the rat-a-tat wishes. With open ground the rat-a-tat may choose to deposite those that fall within into the sewer system beneath if the locale has such instead of killing.

Ear to the Ground (Su): At 10th level a rat-a-tat can close his eyes and let the beat of the city tell him what he needs to know. He gains blindsight out to 60 feet while within a population of town-sized or higher. He always knows when there is a large disturbance in the city, what its cause is, its general direction, and its distance. A marching mob, a collapsing building, or a spreading fire are all examples of such a detectable disturbance.

As well, the rat-a-tat always knows where he is within a city related to the rest of it, and gains a +10 insight bonus to Knowledge (local) checks to name exactly where he is.

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

A high-level rat-a-tat would control every back alley of a city; thieves would give him a cut of every theft, or else they'd find violent, animated heaps of trash pursuing them - also a useful deterrent for overly curious lawmen. If troublesome adventurers wander into town, he'd be able to rile the cityfolk into a murderous mob ready to see the heroes' heads on pikes. And if they discovered his schemes, he'd just dodge into the midday mob and vanish without trace.

I don't think I'd like to play this PrC, but it's absolutely brilliant for a nontraditional, Fagin-like, criminal mastermind BBEG.

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Originally Posted by Illiterate Scribe

Excellent! Giving permanent duration uses might be a bit much though, even with the caveats.

I'm assuming you're referring to the Animated Object? If so, well, basically at the level he gains it he can permanently animate them once per day and uses up almost all available uses of bardic music so he gets none of the other benefits of it. Also, these objects can't leave the city. Thought it was enough of a restriction to balance it.

I don't think I'd like to play this PrC, but it's absolutely brilliant for a nontraditional, Fagin-like, criminal mastermind BBEG.

I don't know, in an urban campaign this guy could be a whole lotta fun

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

I am totally going to have an NPC of this class in my current campaign. This is so wonderfully flavorful and still fairly powerful.

Simius pointed most out the problems I was going to mention, though. One thing I wanna ask: There's nothing about this class that requires spellcasting to get in. What do you do with those arcane spell levels if you come in from pure rogue?

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Very cool, as usual, but it seems as though it should have an alignment restriction [maybe there is one and I just missed it]. I'm not necessarily saying it needs to be only good or non-evil, though those would fit, something like a requirement that their alignment match that of the mainstream of the city could also work.

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Originally Posted by Poppatomus

Very cool, as usual, but it seems as though it should have an alignment restriction [maybe there is one and I just missed it]. I'm not necessarily saying it needs to be only good or non-evil, though those would fit, something like a requirement that their alignment match that of the mainstream of the city could also work.

I dunno, these guys can be pretty much what they like. Didn't think there was anything in here that hinted towards one leaning or the other.

For some reason it really gave me a Planescape (Torment) vibe. Was that intended?

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

I was wondering, how does a Rat-A-Tat realign himself to a new city? I know he would never leave his chosen city without being forced to but what if it was totally destroyed beyond and completely impossible to rebuild? Could he find a different city? How long would it take to realign? What happens to exRat-A-Tats? Isn't it fun to talk only in questions?

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Originally Posted by jjpickar

I was wondering, how does a Rat-A-Tat realign himself to a new city?
Could he find a different city? How long would it take to realign? What happens to exRat-A-Tats? Isn't it fun to talk only in questions?

I'd think it'd just be kinda like a druid 'communing' with nature to gain spells. Just walk about get a feel for the new city, and badda bing, badda boom, he's got it!

Ex-rat-a-tats? Err, you mean those that go out and live in the country? I... guess they'd become the main character in some movie with the overdone theme of 'city boy goes to the farm and has amusing episodes involving manure, hogs, and if he's lucky, the farmer's daughter'.

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Reminds me a bit of that PrC... what was it... Soul of the City, or something?

Not ability-wise, but just the "so in tune with his city that he gets special powers."

Actually, that class had a capstone ability where you could either pick one specific city to focus your power on, and get some awesome power, or have your power apply to any city, but it's a slightly lesser power. That seems like something that would fit in here, if you wanted.

This post would be a lot more useful if I was less vauge...

Anyway, cool class.

Originally Posted by Randel

How about the fact that humans can apparently breed with anything on two legs (or even four legs if you count dragons)?

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

The flavor of this is absolutely great. On the question of balance, though... Do bard and rat-a-tat levels stack for determining what bardic music abilities the character gets, or just for the number of daily uses? For instance, would a Bard 10 / Rat-a-tat 8 be able to use Mass Suggestion? If so, I don't see any reason for a bard not to take this class: He would still have all of the abilities of a pure bard of his total level (except for a little less spellcasting), plus some extra abilities usable whenever he's in a city.

Also, any permanent-duration ability that carries no expense can get very powerful, very quickly. Every day that your rat-a-tat has nothing better to do with his music, he's going to animate another item. It won't take too long before he's got every bit of trash in the city serving him. To balance this, you might set some limit on the maximum amount of such items he can have at a time... Perhaps 4 times his class level in hit dice?

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Animate Objects has a duration of round/level, so I don't think hordes of anything is going to be a problem.
EDIT: Missed that last part about making it permenant.
And from my understanding of it you get Rat-a-tat Bardic abilities instead of Normal Bard abilities. I could be wrong though.

Re: [PrC] Skit skat skoodle do flip flop flee!

Originally Posted by Chronos

The flavor of this is absolutely great. On the question of balance, though... Do bard and rat-a-tat levels stack for determining what bardic music abilities the character gets, or just for the number of daily uses? For instance, would a Bard 10 / Rat-a-tat 8 be able to use Mass Suggestion?

No, it only stacks for the daily uses of the music.

"Bardic Music: Rat-a-tat levels stack with bard levels for the purpose of determining the rat-a-tat's daily uses of his bardic music abilities (if any) and the value of the bonus granted by this music."

Also, any permanent-duration ability that carries no expense can get very powerful, very quickly. Every day that your rat-a-tat has nothing better to do with his music, he's going to animate another item. It won't take too long before he's got every bit of trash in the city serving him. To balance this, you might set some limit on the maximum amount of such items he can have at a time... Perhaps 4 times his class level in hit dice?

Well, there is the bit though about them not ever being able to leave the city.
So, I mean, if the campaign never leaves the city, and he uses up almost all his bardic music in one go for days straight it 'is' possible... so I dunno.